Def Comedy Jam | |
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Genre | Stand-up comedy |
Created by |
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Directed by | Stan Lathan |
Presented by | Martin Lawrence |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 8 |
Production | |
Camera setup | Single camera |
Running time | 30 minutes |
Production companies | |
Original release | |
Network | HBO |
Release | March 7, 1992 – May 2, 1997 |
Related | |
Def Comedy Jam is an HBO television series produced by Russell Simmons, Stan Lathan, and Bob Sumner. [1] [2] [3] The series was hosted by Martin Lawrence and Tony Rock in its first six seasons and by D. L. Hughley for its seventh and eighth seasons.
Simmons and long-time collaborator Lathan were inspired to make Def Comedy Jam by The Uptown Comedy Club in Harlem, New York and The Comedy Act Theatre in Los Angeles, California. They teamed up with Def Jam Records label executive and veteran comedy scout Sumner to launch the show. The series had its original run from March 7, 1992 to May 2, 1997 and in 2006 it returned in the HBO fall lineup. Def Comedy Jam helped to launch the careers of several African-American stand-up comedians.
The show produced a spinoff called Loco Slam. [4]
The show was released on DVD boxsets in the US and the UK. [5]
Christopher Tucker is an American stand-up comedian and actor. Tucker made his debut in 1992 as a stand-up performer on the HBO comedy series Def Comedy Jam, where he frequently appeared on the show during the 1990s. He acted in the films Friday, The Fifth Element, Money Talks, and Jackie Brown, and later gained widespread fame and popularity in the 2000s for playing Detective James Carter in the Rush Hour series.
Martin Fitzgerald Lawrence is an American actor and comedian. He came to fame during the 1990s, establishing a Hollywood career as a leading actor. He got his start playing Maurice Warfield in What's Happening Now!! (1987–1988). He was a leading actor in the Fox television sitcom Martin, the Bad Boys franchise, and House Party, Boomerang, A Thin Line Between Love and Hate, Nothing to Lose, Life, Blue Streak, Big Momma's House, Black Knight, Open Season, and Wild Hogs.
Bernard Jeffrey McCullough, better known by his stage name Bernie Mac, was an American comedian and actor. Born and raised on Chicago's South Side, Mac gained popularity as a stand-up comedian. He joined fellow comedians Steve Harvey, Cedric the Entertainer, and D. L. Hughley in the film The Original Kings of Comedy.
Russell Wendell Simmons is an American entrepreneur, writer and record executive. He co-founded the hip-hop label Def Jam Recordings, and created the clothing fashion lines Phat Farm, Argyleculture, and Tantris. He has promoted veganism and a yoga lifestyle, and published books on lifestyle health & entrepreneurship. Simmons' net worth was estimated at $340 million in 2011.
Sanaa McCoy Lathan is an American actress. She is the daughter of actress Eleanor McCoy and film director Stan Lathan. Her career began after she appeared in the shows In the House, Family Matters, NYPD Blue, and Moesha. Lathan later garnered further prominence after starring in the 1998 superhero film Blade; which followed with film roles in The Best Man (1999), Love & Basketball (2000), Disappearing Acts (2000), and Brown Sugar (2002).
Sommore is an American comedian and actress. Known as the "Diva of Contemporary Comedy," her comedic style features biting sarcasm and frank discussions about money, sex, and equality between the sexes. She first gained fame as the first female host of the long-running Black Entertainment Television (BET) stand-up showcase ComicView, as well as one of the four female comedians that headlined The Queens of Comedy tour.
Stan Lathan is an American television and film director and television producer. He is executive producer and director of BET's Real Husbands of Hollywood. He has produced and directed numerous stand-up comedy specials starring comedian Dave Chappelle, including Killin' Them Softly, Equanimity, The Bird Revelation, Sticks & Stones, and The Closer
Lynn Whitfield is an American actress. She began her acting career in television and theatre before progressing to supporting roles in film. She won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie and received a Golden Globe Award nomination for her breakout performance as Josephine Baker in the HBO biographical film The Josephine Baker Story (1991).
Russell Simmons presents Def Poetry, better known as simply Def Poetry Jam or Def Poetry, is a spoken word poetry television series hosted by Mos Def and airing on HBO between 2002 and 2007. The series features performances by established and up-and-coming spoken word poets. Performances also include special appearances by well-known actors and musicians, as well as occasional performances by Mos Def himself. Co-created by Bruce George, Danny Simmons, Deborah Pointer, Stan Lathan, and Russell Simmons, the show is a spin-off of the popular Def Comedy Jam which began airing on HBO in the 1990s. As with Def Comedy, Simmons appears at the end of every episode to thank the audience.
Paul D. Rosenberg is an American music manager and former entertainment attorney.
Ian Edwards is a British Jamaican / American stand-up comedian, actor, writer and producer from New York and based in Los Angeles, California.
Willadele Givens is an American comedian, actress and writer. Beginning her career during the late–1980s in comedy, Givens television appearances include The Hughleys, Moesha, The Parkers, Comedy Central Presents, Def Comedy Jam, Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry, Martin, Tracey Takes On... and The Steve Harvey Show.
Daniel Simmons Jr. is a Neo-African abstract expressionist painter, a published author, poet and philanthropist. Simmons played an instrumental role in the conceiving of and co-producing the hit HBO show Def Poetry Jam, and won a Tony Award for the Broadway version of the show. He is the older brother of hip-hop impresario Russell Simmons and rapper Joseph Simmons. He is the co-founder and chairman of Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation, which provides disadvantaged urban youth with arts access and education.
Vincent Oshana is an Assyrian-American actor and comedian. He is best known for his HBO Stand-Up Comedy Set on Russell Simmons's Def Comedy Jam and various roles on Showtime channel's television series The Underground.
Irwin Entertainment, Inc. is a television production company founded in 2004 by John Irwin. The company is based in Los Angeles, California, and produces entertainment programming that are either scripted, live, or reality television.
Brave New Voices was created by Youth Speaks Inc in 1998 after the inaugural Youth Speaks Teen slam poetry in San Francisco – the first poetry slam dedicated to youth in the world. Since that time, Brave New Voices has grown to represent youth ages 13–19 from all across the United States and several cities and countries from around the world. BNV is the largest ongoing spoken word event in the world. Cities compose teams of their top 4-6 youth poets to bring to the festival. When the festival began only four teams participated, and the competition has since grown to more than 50 teams.
Pierre Edwards known as Pierre, is an American actor, director, writer, and stand-up comedian. Pierre is best known for producing, writing, directing, and starring as Dre Mitchell in For Da Love of Money (2002), and starring in such films as 2001: A Space Travesty (2000), Def Jam's How to Be a Player (1997), and B*A*P*S (1997).
Joe Hernandez-Kolski is an American actor, spoken word poet, comedian and hip-hop theater artist. He appeared on the fourth and sixth seasons of HBO's Def Poetry Jam.
All Def Comedy is an American television series featuring stand-up comedy airing on HBO. It is produced by Russell Simmons and a continuation of Def Comedy Jam, Simmons' stand-up series on HBO airing from 1992 to 1997.
Zainab Johnson is an American comedian and actress. She is best known as a semi-finalist on NBC's Last Comic Standing. Johnson is a series regular on Amazon's Upload.